Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan, as he seeks re-election to Congress as a fallback, is echoing policy arguments he and Mitt Romney are making in their quest to unseat President Barack Obama.

Ryan emphasizes the importance of overhauling the U.S. tax code in an ad that shows him casually dressed and wearing safety goggles as he talks to workers on a factory floor.

“Simpler, fairer and lower tax rates” would make the nation “more competitive,” Ryan says in the ad.

In their White House campaign, Romney and Ryan have said they would pay for tax cuts by scaling back deductions, credits and exemptions for upper-income taxpayers.

“Fairer means eliminating loopholes and handouts that go to high-income earners and the politically connected,” Ryan says in the ad.

Ryan’s congressional ads are helping the national Republican campaign in Wisconsin, one of nine states where the White House hopefuls and allied groups are spending more of their money and time.

Ryan’s re-election campaign has run seven ads, all of them focused on national issues. The spots ignore Democratic opponent Rob Zerban and don’t mention parochial accomplishments that members of Congress sometimes brandish in their re-election campaigns.

Wisconsin law allows Ryan to run concurrently for re-election and for vice president. Ryan had $2.9 million in his congressional campaign account on Oct. 17.